"Janissaries having a spoon attached to their börk" Topic
4 Posts
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
Please be courteous toward your fellow TMP members.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the 18th Century Media Message Board Back to the 19th Century Media Message Board Back to the Classical Asian Warfare Message Board Back to the Renaissance Discussion Message Board Back to the 18th Century Discussion Message Board Back to the 19th Century Discussion Message Board
Areas of InterestAncients Medieval Renaissance 18th Century 19th Century
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Link
Top-Rated Ruleset
Featured Showcase ArticleThe next Teutonic Knights unit - Crossbowmen!
Featured Profile ArticleThe gates of Old Jerusalem offer a wide variety of scenario possibilities.
|
Druzhina | 06 Sep 2015 7:31 p.m. PST |
Janissaries having a spoon attached to their börk, or in their plume holder, has been discussed before. An early mention of this is in Miller's The Costume of Turkey, 1802, to accompany illustrations of Ottomans after Octavien d'Alvimart Ladle Bearer
The Janissaries themselves, also, have a wooden spoon, with which they eat their pilàv, and which they wear in their caps instead of feathers ; and they as much look upon these as a part of the military dress, as an European would a sword. In McLean's The Military Costume of Turkey, 1813 it appears as Ladle Bearer
In strict conformity with such ideas of military parade, the Janizaries have each of them a wooden spoon, wherewith they eat their pilau, and which they wear instead of a feather, stuck into a copper tube, which is affixed in front of their bonnets. Miller's text was based on various sources (Baron De Tott, J. Dallaway, G.A. Olivier, M. Montague, J. Pitton de Tournefort, M. d'Ohsson, etc.) After searching I found it in one: Constantinople Ancient and Modern: With Excursions to the Shores and Islands of the Archipelago and to the Troad by James Dallaway, 1797:
On days of gala the janissaries wear a large felt cap, certainly of Egyptian invention, with a square piece falling down behind and covering half their back; in front is a socket of copper, originally intended to carry feathers, which they bore in honour of any signal feat in war, but lately to hold a wooden spoon for their pilàv; for a good janissary considers his spoon to be as military an accoutrement as an European would his sword or bayonet. So if this was only a custom adopted lately, it would not have been the case in earlier centuries. Travels of Ali Bey in Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and Turkey. Between the years 1803 and 1807 has
The janissaries of the guard wear, as do all the Turks, a long robe, but of different colours, each according to his taste, without any other sign of distinction, than an extravagant cap of greyish white felt, the hinder part of which hangs behind and covers the back; there is a plate of metal before, which falls upon the forehead, and encloses, as if in a case, a wooden spoon of a rude shape, which each janissary is obliged always to carry with him. Are there any earlier mentions of this practice? The plume holder would have only been called a Kaşıklik (spoon receptacle) after this became a practice. Druzhina Illustrations of Ottoman Janissaries |
McLaddie | 07 Sep 2015 8:58 a.m. PST |
Janissaries having a spoon attached to their börk,… It sounds painful. Actually, I understood that the spoon was a symbol of the Janissaries' relationship to the Sultan. [He fed them, they were part of his 'house'… So, it was a sign of a special relationship and with clothing being less than uniform, a unit designation. In some ways, it is like oak leaves on Austrain shakos and standards as a symbol, but the bearskin for grenadiers…
|
Druzhina | 08 Sep 2015 4:45 a.m. PST |
Agreed, but was it only a practice in the last few decades of the Janissaries existence? As the Janissaries only wore the börk for ceremonial occasions in the 18th & 19th centuries, otherwise wearing turbans, it would be rare for them to have the spoon displayed like this. Druzhina Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers |
Mallen | 09 Sep 2015 11:05 a.m. PST |
When the revolted, didn't they upend the mondo-sized suopp kettles? Makes sense to me. |
|